Former President Bill Clinton stumps for Jon Corzine

Can't we are in a noisy Harwood arena on the Kane University campus? Noisy because Bill Clinton is walking into the building now. Can we get a shot of former President Clinton with John Corazon? They attended a fundraiser a little while ago for the State Democratic Party and for the Assembly Democratic campaign there's Corazon with the Assembly Speaker Albiot series. Some have suggested that Clinton's appearance here might be a reaction to the polls tightening in the gubernatorial race. Corazon had addressed that yesterday he said you don't get Clinton here in 24 hours. So this event has been long in the planning stages. The gym is full of about 3,000 people. The State Democratic chairman is at the podium.

We spoke to Bonnie Watson Coleman a little while ago, let's hear that. Bonnie Watson still speaking. I have a few who had a lot of questions today. John Corzine is about to speak, but let's talk about Doug Farrister for a second.

He has not seen a crowd like this since the primary election, but he's out there every day working hard. He caught up with him earlier this morning in Patterson. I'm good. I'll send you... I think we're proud of our ladies' leader here at the Jersey, but you know what, he's pretty proud of that lady, who's the junior president of the New York City.

Well, I think Coursine would dispute that he's speaking now, Clinton is standing right next to him, let's hear a few seconds. We've got a lot of changes to do. You said I had 20 or 30 seconds. Our seniors, our children, and we believe in the American promise, right?

Just like this great leader demonstrated to the people of America that are values of community and opportunity and responsibility or the things that we Democrats stand for and America stands for, and that's what we're going to show the people of New Jersey we stand for in another 40 days. I'm proud to stand with a lot of elected officials up here, nobody am I more proud of than Speaker Albiot series who's just a great great leader. You know, there are a whole bunch of other people and I'm going to get in a lot of trouble if I start doing that, I'm not going to do it, but I want to make sure that people know that Democrats stand for the right things. This person has led that state assembly in a way that makes us all proud, the first Latino leader of the Jersey State Assembly.

Now then the next 40 days and 40 nights and I'll shut up because you didn't come to hear me. Questions are about a couple of things. First of all, they're about choices. They're about whether we're going to actually have tax relief for the middle class in our seniors or whether we're going to give big relief to people who don't need it. We've seen that movie in Washington, haven't we? We've seen a movie where we've turned our backs on health care, poverty rates are rising, unemployment's never gotten to the levels that it got under the leadership of Bill Clinton. We know what we have to do. We have to make choices that will make a difference in people's lives.

And then all of us in this room and everywhere that you talk to your families, your friends, your neighbors, we have to organize to make sure that we do those things that win elections. October 11th is the last day we registered a vote. We have to make sure everyone who feels like we feel is registered and ready to go. We have to make sure that we get those absentee ballots out there to all those people who wouldn't otherwise have a chance to vote. We've got a new system this year. You can make it happen. And on those 14 hours, 40 days from now, we got to knock on every door, make every phone call. And we're going to make sure we get across that one. Is that right? Are we going to do that? Because if we do, we'll give 40% increases in rebates to every senior in this day, going from $1,200 to $1,800, we'll work with the middle class to revise, make sure that they have property tax relief. We'll get 265,000 kids off the uninsured roles and make sure that they get the health care they deserve. And we'll build the schools.

We'll build the schools to make sure that a zip code doesn't determine whether you get a good education, but we do the right work to make sure that people get it. The last thing I want you to know, and I'm going to say, and then I want to introduce my hero and all of your heroes. We can change the culture. We can change what people's expectations are about those who serve. Public service is about serving you, your families and our communities. And I have been an agent of change everywhere I have been in my life, and we're going to make sure the people of New Jersey know we're going to serve their needs, public services about them. Let me just say, one of the great honors in life is to have known the gentleman who you will hear from next.

Just did an incredible job as a human being, as a leader, as our president. And when I was trying to figure out what I was going to say, I went to the Bill Clinton Foundation website. And I figured out why this guy was so smart. Because in about 20 words, he says things that take people weeks to say. Particularly the guy that actually filled in after that, you know, we got real issues there. If you didn't know it, William Jefferson Clinton was elected president in 1992. And again in 1996, he was the first Democrat to serve two terms in over six decades. Under the leadership of Bill Clinton, we enjoyed the strongest economy in that generation and the longest economic expansion in the history of this country.

We followed the principle of the person that motivated so much, many of us in the 60s about rising tides lift all boats, John Kennedy. And you know what, we had decreases in poverty and increases in employment. 22 million jobs were created in the eight years that Bill Clinton was the president of the United States. Bill Clinton knew that if you invested, you grow and you prosper and America did because he knew how to lead this country. And I'll tell you, we had eight years always challenged, but never at war. We were fighting terrorism. And we had them world enjoying the fact that we were their neighbor, not their enemy.

Let me introduce to you most proudly, my friend, great, great president of the United States. Let me introduce to you William Jefferson Clinton. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. You calm down. Stop that. You have to stop that or I'll forget I'm not president anymore. Let me thank you, Madam Chair, for your leadership, Mr. Speaker, and all your slate of candidates. I hope you all win and I hope I'm helping you a little by being here today.

The local officials, the senators, the party leaders, the union leaders, my fellow citizens. Let me tell you, I'm always a little apprehensive when I come to a political event these days. I've sort of lost a half of stuff. You know, I'm a little out of practice and I'm up and I'm afraid I'll forget what I'm supposed to do. But anyway, so you just ride along here with me, I'll try to pick it up as we go along. I want you to know something. I don't do much of this anymore. I've got another member of my family who's in politics and I'm very proud of it. But now my family's had a governor. I was a governor for 12 years and we've had a senator and I do think John is going for a promotion.

I came here tonight and all seriousness for two reasons. One is I feel profoundly indebted to the people of New Jersey. I care about this state. You were good to me. You voted for me twice. And I feel indebted to you. And you also gave me the biggest increase in my margin of victory from 92 to 96. I've been a state of America. And I'm grateful to you. The second reason I came here is that I not only like I profoundly admire John, your next governor. And I want to tell you why. You've had some tough times and this country's got some tough times and you face some big challenges. And anybody that tells you different is just giving you a bunch of hot air.

But if you ever needed a governor who's strong and smart and good and experienced and full of new ideas and capable of implementing them, you need that person now. And I'm here to tell you I did that job for 12 years. I served with 150 other governors. I don't know of a better qualified person I ever saw present himself or herself for the office of governor and John Corson ever in America anywhere. And I know. I know what kind of job he did running one of the most important financial companies in America. I still have people who work for that company come up to me and tell me just spontaneously how much they liked him when he was there, how much they admired his leadership, how happy they were to follow him, how much they trusted him. People that don't vote in New Jersey. People that don't know anything about New Jersey politics. Just say that to me because I hang around New York and I see those people and they say it.

And I'm here to tell you I know what it takes to be a good senator. And when you're in the minority in the United States Senate. A condition I very much regret. You know what you can do. You can just sort of throw up your hand and say well they got to vote and I can't do anything. And so what I'm going to do is give a lot of speeches and put as much hot air I can out every night try to get on television as much as I can and hope everybody disagrees with what I say. John decided that he'd find a way to be affected. Hillary decided she'd find a way to be affected. And one of the things that I really admire about both of them is they didn't let being in the minority interfere with their ability not only to fight for the people of New Jersey but to get results for you. When the administration and the other party in Congress tried to give John and me a big tax cut and cut pell grants for low income kids to go to college in New Jersey.

He not only said no, he stopped them. And he's fought successfully to help the families of 9-11 and he's fought against the corporate abuses that's so dominated the last couple of years. Because he knew what to do. He knew what kind of laws we needed. He knew what kind of administrative changes we needed. He's fought to protect the environment of New Jersey, to rebuild the coastline, to stop off short drilling, to protect the precious lands that you still have here. So kids will know this is not only a great industrial state, it's a beautiful natural state. He believes in that. And it's important. He always put people first, not only as a senator of New Jersey but as a member of the Senate Farm Relations Committee. He fought against all those subsidies in the way they jerry rigged that so-called senior citizen's drug benefit that leads about as many people out as it puts in and costs you too much money because we're given money to people who don't need it instead of spending the money on the people who do.

John Poisson fought to protect you from that. He fought to expand eligibility for affordable housing, made a huge difference to ordinary people. And I can tell you, you know, you say something like that and people say, well, all the old issues are Iraq or who's getting confirmed with the Supreme Court. But if you've got a family and you've got a job and you don't think you can afford a home, there is nothing more important. Because of him, more people in New Jersey can get a home today than they could before his legislation. Now I'll tell you something that's important to me. You know, I have to travel the world and I worry about what people think about America. When all those innocent people, those poor, desperate, forgotten people were being killed in the Sudan and Darfur,

John Poisson led the effort on the Senate Prime Relations Committee to say, we're going to get some money out there so the American military can take soldiers from Africa in there to save their lives. I haven't even told John this, but about three weeks ago or four I was in Africa in Rwanda, a country where I worked with my age project. And I was at the airport and I looked up, there were all these young Americans in uniform in the United States Air Force. And you know what they were there for? They were there to fly Rwandan troops to Darfur to save the lives of poor people the world had forgotten because of John Poisson. But all elections are really about the future and your record only counts because it indicates whether you will or won't do what you say you're going to do. The thing I'm most excited about having been a governor for 12 years is the platform he's running off.

Yes, you need to change, but anybody can change. The question is, and no matter how bad it is, don't you ever believe they can't make it worse. The question is not whether you're going to change. You're about to have an election. You are by definition going to change. Will it be the right kind of change or the wrong kind of change? Are you going to go forward? Are you going to go backward? Well, look at the proposals that your senator and governor to be has laid out. Just look at the property tax relief proposal. Every single expert who has examined the competing property tax proposal says, his is more real, his is really paid for, and his concentrates the benefits where they're needed on the middle class, the elderly, the working poor, not the millionaires like John and me. The healthcare proposal calls for expanding access to coverage, consolidating the expanding the availability of drugs to people who need them, and doing it while controlling costs and reducing them in some areas, don't you think it can't be done? Since 2001, healthcare costs have gone up in America more than three times the rate of inflation. There's a reason that happened.

Because we haven't been minding the store, we haven't been managing it properly all over the country, and it's not right. So he's got a plan that will provide more kids, more access to what may be lifesaving healthcare, and more medicine at more affordable rates to the people who are ill and need it, and still to save the taxpayer money. And he can do it because he will manage it properly, and you won't have three times the rate of inflation in healthcare that you've gotten every other cause. The third thing that's most important to me, and I know I'm preaching to the Saved here as we say at home, but you got 40 days and 40 nights. He said it sounded biblical, sound like a rock and roll song to me, but you got to have reasons to tell people every one of you know somebody, and that's why I'm going through this. The third thing, and the thing that I believe is most important to our economic future, to our national security, and to the preservation of our environment in this country and on this earth, is he has got a sensible, progressive energy policy, for clean energy that will cut your fuel bill,

make America less dependent on foreign oil, and save the environment of New Jersey, and the planet Earth. This is... So we now are gasoline in $65 roll, if you didn't see as many gallons of gasoline it would matter what it cost. We can want every vehicle with an internet in this entire country, on the highways and on the water, on something side of the world. I ordered the solar panels from my library, my presidential library, through a company with operations at California in New Jersey.

I've got 304 solar panels on top of my library, and I don't know if you've seen any pictures of it, but it's a big building with lots of glass and lots of light, because I want people to be happy in there. I can press bamboo in the floor, and we run hot water in the winter, and cold water in the summer under that floor. That's all we do. You know what I did? I cut my power bill, and my contribution to global warming by 34%. And we're going to pay it off in 18 months, and for 99 years, we'll make a profit. This is crazy that we're not doing this.

We create untold thousands of jobs in New Jersey. By building a clean energy future and saying to the rest of the world, I am sorry, we are not going to let you have us by the throat anymore. You may charge us $3 for gasoline, but we don't have to buy it anymore. You can charge us whatever you want for power, but we don't have to use it all anymore. We're going to change the way we're doing things, and give our country a new future. You can lead the way, and he'll do it. And I want you to help him. This is a big deal. And I know it's esoteric for a governor's race, but I'm telling you, you see all these hurricanes. There is no question that the number and intensity of severe weather events in this country are increasing because the climate is changing. There's a big article today. There's a big article today in the newspaper. It says, the ice cap on the North Pole is melting. You know what that means? That means higher oceans.

All storms come from hot air off the ocean. Now, let me tell you what that means to us here. And since I'm a New Yorker, I'll give you a New York specific example. If the climate warms for the next 50 years, it's the same rate of the last 10, we will lose less than this. 50 feet all around of Manhattan Island, the most valuable real estate in America, it'll be gone. One of the little countries I'm helping in Asia, the Maldives, it was so hit by that tsunami, we're trying to help them rebuild. You know what we'll be doing in 50 years? Evacuate, and the country will be gone. It'll be underwater. 12 blocks of ice the size of the state of Rhode Island have broken off in the South Pole in the last decade. What's that got to do with the New Jersey Governor's race? You better wonder how these kids are going to live and that kind of weather. Who's going to grow their food? What kind of air are they going to breathe? One of the things I really respect about him is he is refused to give in to the demands to weaken the clean air provisions. We got too many kids with asthma in this country as it is.

One two, one two, one two. I don't know what he said, because he always said. I don't know what he was saying, but he always said. The whole of the sacks of the different America would be when he left, and it wasn't funny. The definition of the Femton Freshman Center is in the army. It was the D.C. in different definition because of the stuff he's got not for you. I don't know what he was saying. And that's the other thing, I'll be clicking on your free store today.

I still like your good speech, but I want somebody in the more words of you, a good evening, to show you the funny thing. I mean, I want somebody. Because I, you know, that's a nice thing, but it can be delicious. And you stand in the living room. The dog has been delivering his entire life. Now, I know this is not one of these things that you've literally seen in Syria that way. This is a big complex background state where a lot of challenges come. Can former President Clinton is speaking now. He's been speaking for about 25 minutes. It feels like he's wrapping up, but you never can tell with Clinton. He has given quite a testimonial for John Corzine here.

He seems in touch with what the issues are here in this governor's race. We hear a little of what he said earlier about why John Corzine should be governor. This plan is a good one. And you know, we can all talk about how smart we are. How clever we are, how smart we are. It's always somebody a little bit smarter. It's always somebody a little bit better.